The Lady Raiders jumped out to a 16-2 lead and ran away from Colorado in a 74-61 victory in their conference home opener at United Spirit Arena.

After a disappointing effort from the team's seniors in a loss against Oklahoma on Saturday, the Lady Raiders rebounded nicely Tuesday in more ways than one.

Jordan Murphree, who scored only two points on a pair of free throws Saturday, scored nine of her 21 in the first half despite playing with a sore back. She shot 50 percent from the floor, 8-for-8 from the free-throw line, and added seven rebounds for Tech (13-3, 1-1 in Big 12).

"I think all the seniors came out and played very well today," Roberson said of the seniors' turnaround. "It's a young team, but the (freshmen) are doing a great job of following and we're doing a great job of leading."

The star of the game might have been the Lady Raiders' defense, which forced 18 turnovers and held Colorado to 31 percent shooting. The Buffs shot only 17.6 percent in the first half.

Colorado coach Kathy McConnell-Miller said junior Brittany Spears, who entered the game averaging nearly 20 points, was forced out of the game by Tech's defense. Spears scored only three points, a season low. She had scored in double digits in all of Colorado's previous games this season.

McConnell-Miller played Spears only five minutes in the second half because she felt the matchups were better without her.

"That was a coach's decision," McConnell-Miller said of keeping Spears off the floor. "When Spears was on the floor we were one shot and done, or one pass and done, and we just did not execute the way we needed to against Texas Tech. You're on the road and if you make a pass and a shot you can go down 20 really quick, and that's what happened."

Colorado (11-4, 1-1) responded well after being down 37-19 at halftime. The Buffs narrowed the gap to nine points with nine minutes to go and missed opportunities to make it closer.

Tech regained control and was up 20 with three minutes to go in the game.

"A team is going to have their runs and that was their run," Murphree said. "We dug deep and got it back to 20 points. Basketball is a game of runs and we just needed to match that run that they had."

The Lady Raiders shot 43.9 percent from the floor, which was their best shooting performance since beating North Dakota in the first round of a tournament at Tulane on Dec. 28. Tech was spectacular from the free-throw line as well, shooting 21-of-24.

Curry had wanted to see the pressure taken off Kierra Mallard in the post and the team seemed better for it. Mallard finished with four blocks.

"She ran so hard in transition and got great help," Curry said. "Look at her blocked shots...I thought we put her in a position to be more successful tonight."

Mallard scored 16 points and hauled in nine rebounds. On the whole, the Lady Raiders were a force on the glass, grabbing 45 rebounds, including 10 from 5-foot-6 guard Monique Smalls, a career high.